It's a drive of about 16 miles to my daughter's, by the direct route. The direct route is over the high moors that divide the Calder valley from the Aire valley. It can be beautiful up there. It's also rather bleak and the weather can be very different up there from down in the valleys. It's often foggy, or conversely often windy, can be snow and ice up there even when there's none lower down. Even though I have winter tyres on my car, I would never choose that way if I thought it would be dangerous or beyond my driving capability - though the two alternatives also have quite steep hills to navigate, as well as being longer.
When I drove over the other day, the weather wasn't a problem. When I got home I noticed, however, some posts online about a 4x4 that had been driving dangerously up and down the road and deliberately ramming other cars! Thankfully I didn't meet them. It's so remote in parts that it can be quite lawless. You regularly see fly-tipped rubbish - and indeed my photo above shows something left by the side of the road. One time I drove along there and there had been a whole load of used tyres dumped in piles along the route!
On a good day though, it's exhilarating to see those moors stretching for miles and I love the way the rolling scenery fades away into the distance, through various recessionary tones. Sadly there are few safe places to stop to take photos. The best views are always from the sections where you can't stop!
It's a landscape of rough beauty and very special. I will never understand how people can even leave a single chocolate wrapper behind, let alone dump piles of tyres or other rubbish.
ReplyDelete